The Book of Ash was an ancient book of mysterious and dark power. Long ago the study of this magical tome drove many into madness. Over time, the book was eventually lost, but Azaran the Cruel, then of the Hand Brotherhood, undertook a search for the book to aid him in his studies of necromancy.[1] He was successful in locating it in "the sands of long forgotten kings" and plumbed its depths.[2] His studies of the Book of Ash may have driven him mad, causing him to commit suicide.